Finally... Something to Say

It been ages since I last posted, I know. I'm sorry to say that I've not had a single thing to say in all this time that wouldn't have been a reiteration of what I had already told you. However, that is no longer the case.

In fact, I'm fairly bursting with news.

Let's see. I left off with the Grandma saga. Nothing has changed there, except that she's miraculously stopped falling out of bed. My mother also doesn't seem to need any more help in putting her on the pot. Amazing how that works when you have to do things yourself and can't shove all the work onto someone else. But wait, you say. Does this mean you're not there anymore?

That's exactly what it means. We've been in our new home for almost a month now.

It's small, there's no getting around it. However, it's darling. The layout is such that it doesn't feel as small as it really is. Hubster is using one of the bedrooms as his office and is actually using it. I've got an oversized chair which I practically live in. Our stuff still isn't here - we're still fighting with the POD people over the price, and we don't have a large chunk of change right now anyway - but I got some stuff off Craig's List to make do for the time being. I even got a plant off there - a truly gorgeous creature I've named Ophelia (she's a 4 ft. tall ponytail palm). I've never seen one that big, and the price was a steal. The other good thing about her is that we picked her up in Lafayette (which is surprisingly close to where we live), and we drove right past Blue Sky Alpacas (the retail shop). You can bet your ass I'll be going over there very soon. Their ranch is in Brentwood, which is the next town over, so I'm hoping to visit there as well. But I digresss. If you don't have the money to get your stuff, how are you going to go shopping at what promises to be a fairly pricey store, you say? Something just happened on Monday which is going to change our lives.

Hubster went to Silicon Valley to interview with a new company. He hadn't even gotten home when they called.

He was offered, and accepted, the job. (insert VERY happy face here)

I think that he'll love it. Anything would be better than his present company. We're going to have a celebration dinner (at a local eatery which has exceptional Italian food), and then have a REAL celebration in December.

Why December? Because December 12th is our 20th anniversary and, now that we'll be able to afford it, he's putting together a surprise. Hubster has always put together the best surprises. I don't know if we're going somewhere, having dinner at a nice restaurant in San Francisco, or what, but I'm sure it'll be killer. We've never really celebrated our anniversaries, never really taken a vacation other than a couple of days in Reno at a time, and never gone on a honeymoon. We've never had the money, and when he worked for Cisco and we did have disposable income, we tended to go to Reno (although that pretty much stopped when we bought the house). This time, we're going to continue living frugally, complete the purchase of this house, and do a lot of remodeling on it rather than move yet again and buy a larger place. There is a lot of potential right here to expand the living space (and put in my dream kitchen), update the pool, put in new flooring, paint, blah blah blah, that I'd rather live through the hell of remodeling and get exactly what I want rather than have our money eaten up by a huge mortgage payment, higher property taxes, and settle for something which is nice but still not what I really want. We're happy here, and we plan to remain that way. I kind of feel like we've made it - there's just something about being married 20 years that says we're not going anywhere - and besides, who else would put up with our nasty asses?

So that was the huge - or one of the huge - bits of life-changing news. Something else has happened, although this doesn't really affect us one way or the other.

We're grandparents again.

Yes, the kid went and got herself knocked up and had another baby. We don't know who the father is, what the kid is, when she had it, what it's name is, where they're living - to put it briefly, we don't know shit. The only thing we know for sure is that there's another rug rat out there somewhere who is our grandchild.

Part of me yearns to hold this baby. Part of me doesn't want anything to do with it. I don't think it's fully hit the kids - they're only seven, after all, and don't fully understand what's happened. I think it's a shame that they have a brother or sister whom they probably will never know, but maybe this will keep her away from them once and for all. She has another focus now. I'm about as maternal as a stone, so I don't reallly give it a lot of thought, but every now and then, I weep for this child. Amber has fucked up again, and it's obvious that she hasn't learned dick from any of the life lessons she's had. I'm keeping our location a secret so she doesn't turn up on our doorstep. I really don't want her here, and I certainly don't want another baby around, especially when I know it would kill our flower children (since they're not living with us yet). The whole situation is totally FUBAR, but I'm sure she doesn't see it that way. Oh well.

My health is, well, my health. It hasn't gotten worse or better. It simply is what it is, so I won't bore you with that. The only thing I'll say about it is that I've decided against the wire in my spine. The PA I'm seeing instead of the doctor himself told me that it only helps for pain below the waist. Since mine is migratory, it wouldn't do a whole lot of good for me.

Emma is doing well and loves her new home. I think she's finally reached her full size, which puts her at about 60 pounds. I found some pictures of her when she was a puppy, and I fell in love all over again. She was so damned cute and fit quite nicely in my lap. Now she hogs the entire chair and knocks all the wind out of me if she decides to sit on my lap. I'm always amazed at just how strong she is, especially when she bangs into my legs and almost knocks me over. Then I remember she's solid muscle. She's also gotten very protective of me and is constantly by my side. She's incredibly comforting.

As for knitting, I've got the usual six pairs of socks on the needles and am knitting on my bloomers. I finally figured out the pattern (you know how you read something a hundred times and it just doesn't click?), so while I'm far behind where I'd like to be, at least the lightbulb finally went off in my pea brain. It was a wording thing that didn't make sense, but now that it does, I can't imagine how I didn't understand it. When this new yarn arrives, I have plans for a pair of socks which are essentially a Gansey sampler. The yarn is called Blue Scorpion or something like that and is a gorgeous bright, medium-toned blue which will show all the stitches off to their best advantage. I have the needles, so I must need to cast on more projects, right?

I don't remember if I told you (and am too lazy to read old posts to see if I did) that I've begun riding a bicycle. I found a beach cruiser on CL for a steal and have added a few things to it (a really comfy seat which is filled with gel and is large enough to fit my ass, a sheepskin seat cover, a wicker basket, streamers for the handlbars - yes, I'm really five - and one of those flags on a long pole so people can see me), and am blessed to have a beautiful bike trail just down the street which runs alongside the water (we're practically on the Delta here), so I'm taking it slow before I tackle that. Every day, I try to go a little farther. It's amazing how insecure I am about riding, especially with any traffic close by, but I'm sure that will pass the more I ride. It's fun, and it's also good exercise, especially since it's now too cold to go swimming. At least it's something I can still do.

It would seem that, once again, I've blathered on and on and bored the lving shit out of all of you. For that, I apologize. I'd rather do that, however, than try to come up with news. I didn't have to do that this tine. I'm also sorry that I don't have any pictures to show you. Once we get our cameras, I'll take a bunch, but until then...

You'll just have to filter out most of the bullshit I spew and focus on anything which seems interesting.

I hope there's at least one or two items you'll enjoy.

I've missed you all.